The Village Prophet: Left Hand

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman
and in this lesson we're going to
continue working on "The Village Prophet"
by Rousseau. Today we're tackling the
left-hand part, so let's check out the
sheet music to get started. Let's look at
the left-hand part for "The Village
Prophet". What I'd like you to do is pause
the video and take these first two lines,
measures one through eight, and analyze every
interval between all of the notes. So for
example, from this G up to this D, what
interval would that be?
That's the interval of a fifth. One quick way to
recognize a fifth is to see this is a
space note, we skipped a space to the
next space. It's kind of like a double
skip which is a fifth. What about the
distance from here to here?
From D to B is a third. Thirds are easy to recognize
because it's a space to the nearest
space, or it could be a line to the next
nearest line. Now pause the video and on
your own go through and figure out all
the intervals between each successive
note, and write it in. Use a pencil just
in case there's a mistake. It's easy to
erase with a pencil, and pause the video
to analyze all the intervals, and then
press play when you're ready to check
your answer.
Here are the intervals, so why don't you
check your answers. We go up a fifth, down
a third, down a third, then up a fourth, up
a second.
Remember, if notes are stepping we can
call that a step up, or we can call it
the interval of a second. Then down an
octave, which is also called an eighth. Up
a fourth, then up a third, then from here
to here is down a third. So let's also
mark that, mark that in your music if you
didn't already, then up a fifth, down a
third, down a third, up a fourth, up a
second, down an octave or an eighth, up a
fourth, then up a fifth, down a third, down
a third to bring us to measure nine.
Now, if you need to fix any of those, press
pause to fix anything, otherwise let's
keep going. Now you'll recall that "The
Village Prophet" is in the key of G minor.
At least I hope you'll recall that. It's
always important to keep in mind what key
you're in so you can remember the sharps
and flats, remember where DO is. So to
kind of warm up your left hand, let's
play the G natural minor scale two octaves.
Up and down. Will you pause the video, and
don't forget that we've got our B-flats
and E-flats. We use all five fingers and
cross over a finger 3, cross over
finger 4, cross over a finger 3,
and coming down 3, then 4 plays A,
3, and then you're done. Press pause
and review that G natural minor scale up
and down two octaves, then press play to
go on.
Now, let's see, we start with finger 5
of the left hand on this G, which is
fairly near middle C so we'll be right
here. Here's my middle C, and because I
know we're going to have a B-flat, I'm
going to go ahead and have my finger
3 ready on that B-flat. Now, what I'd
like you to do is press pause and see if
on your own you can figure out this
first line from measures one through
four on your own. Note that while your
hand starts in this position, by the time
you get to that octave jump down,
remember we've got this D and then our
finger 5 has to come all the way down
to this D, and then we go up a fourth and
it says finger 3, so there's going to
be a little bit of a glide or a stretch
there. Okay, so be aware of those last
four notes of the line. In fact, let's
learn that first. Let's start here on D
with finger 1, down to this D with
finger 5, then up to G B-flat, with
fingers 3 and 2. Okay one more time.
D down to D, then G with finger 3,
then B-flat with 2. Now the rest of the
line
I'd like you to figure out on your own.
So, press pause, figure out measures one
through four on your own, then press play
and we'll try it together.
Here's what it should have sounded like.
We have 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3. Notice because of
that decrescendo there, I'm going to
float my left hand forearm and wrist a
little bit as I get to that last note of
the phrase.
Okay, now let's try it
together. Get your hand in position, 1
ready go, 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Now, press pause and work on that a little
more on your own until you feel really
confident with it, then press play to go
on.
Now, here's a little mystery challenge
for you. The question is, in which measure
of line one do you outline a G minor triad?
if you said measure two you're correct. In
measure two, see how those notes move
through the G minor triad,
it's cal ...